The pastor at my parish made a very good argument in favor an unmarried priesthood from the pulpit one Sunday. It made great sense to me.

 

A priest with a family COULD find himself conflicted between his duty to his family and his duty to his parishioners. He felt that a priest shouldn't have to prioritize either his family or his parishioners over the other. For example a family event very important to his children is happening when he get a call requesting a visit to a sick parishioner. Does he leave his family and potentially upset that dynamic to fulfill his duties? The closest parallel I can figure to this is a physician on call but a doctor is able to schedule his/her call days so they can schedule family events around it. A priest can't do that.

 

My pastor explained it much more eloquently then I am able to. As a person who used to be 100% in favor of allowing priests to marry, his homily that day caused me to re-think. I'm still not opposed to priest marrying but I'm no longer willing to call it a stupid rule with no positive effect on the priesthood.

Makes sense. The Apostle Paul addressed that very issue, I think, when he said it is best if you don't marry. Marriage and family demands a lot of a man's attention and energy.

 

On the flip side of that coin, marriage and family also gives a man a lot of experiences and life lessons that a single man would not have. Those things, it would seem to me, would help a priest in his dealings with his parishioners as he helps them navigate through their own life's problems and challenges. I think having the benefit of being married and raising children would make him a much better priest with respect to pastoring the flock.

UKMF, the priest at St. Mary's has a son, not a daughter. I know because he used to be my pastor at St. Anthony's. Nice, polite teenager. The circumstances of what happened have been discussed in another thread. I will not be commenting further on that situation because, over the years, it was dealt with in an appropriate manner for all involved.

 

Who is the priest at St. Mary's?

Makes sense. The Apostle Paul addressed that very issue, I think, when he said it is best if you don't marry. Marriage and family demands a lot of a man's attention and energy.

 

On the flip side of that coin, marriage and family also gives a man a lot of experiences and life lessons that a single man would not have. Those things, it would seem to me, would help a priest in his dealings with his parishioners as he helps them navigate through their own life's problems and challenges. I think having the benefit of being married and raising children would make him a much better priest with respect to pastoring the flock.

 

I don't disagree and like I said I used to be 100% on the side of letting them marry. I'm still not opposed to it but I do now see some of the logic on the current ban.

Who is the priest at St. Mary's?

 

Father Gallenstein

And to that I would say that allowing marriage and family would bring more priests to the priesthood, allowing more priests to "cover" for each other, similar to a physician on call.

 

But you don't just call the rectory and say send a priest, you say send Father so and so. There are some priests that I have had better relationships then others, when the time comes that I need a priest for the final time I certainly would want one that I've had a good relationship with and not just rely on who's on call.

 

Again I'm not opposed to the ban I just have a better understanding of some logic for the ban.

 

A question, are you Catholic? I ask this because someone who is a Protestant where ministers marry or even a non-believer would have a different perspective on it and I'm just curious the perspective of your belief.

Who is the priest at St. Mary's?

 

Father Joseph Gallenstein

I am quite impressed with the number of seminarians in the Diocese of Covington. I think 4 are about to be ordained soon. For the size, I think they are doing a whole lot better than other dioceses in the number of men studying to be priests.

 

One of the seminarians in Covington is actually from my parish. He is currently in Rome finishing his education. I'll be in the Cathedral up there when he's ordained and does his first Mass.

So in the Eastern Rite, do they have to be married prior to even enrolling in the Seminary? Or just as long as it happens before they take their vows?

 

While I think it would be preferred that they be married before hand, I have heard of Eastern Rite seminarians who assumed they would be unmarried priests meeting someone and getting married before ordination.

Bert, thank you for that very detailed explanation to my questions. I very much appreciate your information and your opinion. I learned quite a bit about my Catholic brothers' beliefs from your post and that is exactly what I was looking for.

 

Not a problem. Many people say the priestly celibacy discipline is stupid before even doing a little homework to understand the reason. As I said, I am split on the issue, I see the benefit of both sides and therefore would not be upset if the church keeps priestly celibacy or overturns it.

St. Mary's in Alexandria has a priest that has a daughter.

 

My personal view is it's a dumb rule that is severely hindering the church's ability to attract men to the priesthood.

 

I think the diocese bishop has more to with vocations than anything. Before Archbishop Kurtz came to Louisville, we would have sometimes one or two seminarians and the would be it. Often times they were older men who were either widowed or never married. When Kurtz arrived, he said his goal was to have twenty seminarians at any one time with the assumption half would become priests the other have would decide not to. The number of seminarians increases and degrees but in the long run, he is meeting that goal. Seems like every few month a new ordination is occurring.

 

Also the Eastern Rite is not overflowing with priests either. They are having a shortage too. The vocation aspect of the priesthood is daunting and I think this generation and the previous generations are more hesitant for such a lifetime commitment compared to the generations that came before them.

UKMF, the priest at St. Mary's has a son, not a daughter. I know because he used to be my pastor at St. Anthony's. Nice, polite teenager. The circumstances of what happened have been discussed in another thread. I will not be commenting further on that situation because, over the years, it was dealt with in an appropriate manner for all involved.

 

That is interesting. There have been cases where a father becomes a widower and inquires about becoming a priest. Generally a diocese will be open to him becoming a priest they generally just ask for him to wait till the children are old enough to live on their own, again back to the idea that a priest needs to have his full commitment to his parish. I would have assumed they would have preferred the child be older than a teenager, out of high school for example.

But you don't just call the rectory and say send a priest, you say send Father so and so. There are some priests that I have had better relationships then others, when the time comes that I need a priest for the final time I certainly would want one that I've had a good relationship with and not just rely on who's on call.

 

Again I'm not opposed to the ban I just have a better understanding of some logic for the ban.

 

A question, are you Catholic? I ask this because someone who is a Protestant where ministers marry or even a non-believer would have a different perspective on it and I'm just curious the perspective of your belief.

Yes. My 4 of my 5 kids all attend Catholic grade schools and high schools, too. I'm a Marquette grad.

I have lived in many different places and have been a part of many different parishes. My first parish was on an Army base in Germany.

Sure I have had my favorite priests. But I have also learned to get to know each priest at each parish and school, wherever we have lived.

The Pope's free-wheeling Q and A session aboard the airplane also included the revelation that more bishops are under investigation for crimes involving minors. No doubt the Vatican has conducted studies exploring whether a married clergy might reduce the hundreds of millions of dollars paid out to victims of rape over the past two or so decades. Perhaps the new liberal Pope's "door open" comment is step one.

Makes sense. The Apostle Paul addressed that very issue, I think, when he said it is best if you don't marry. Marriage and family demands a lot of a man's attention and energy..

 

That is part of the reason for priestly celibacy. The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches have always taught that the single life is just as valid as married life, one is not preferred over the other. Other churches seem to look at single life, not necessarily as wrong but maybe taboo. Do you see that Watusi?

 

On the flip side of that coin, marriage and family also gives a man a lot of experiences and life lessons that a single man would not have. Those things, it would seem to me, would help a priest in his dealings with his parishioners as he helps them navigate through their own life's problems and challenges. I think having the benefit of being married and raising children would make him a much better priest with respect to pastoring the flock.

 

And that is why I see marriage as a possible benefit. While I feel most priests are more that competent to preach about marriage from a theological aspect, from a practical aspect, they may need to lean on their deacons (deacons can marry).

The Pope's free-wheeling Q and A session aboard the airplane also included the revelation that more bishops are under investigation for crimes involving minors. No doubt the Vatican has conducted studies exploring whether a married clergy might reduce the hundreds of millions of dollars paid out to victims of rape over the past two or so decades. Perhaps the new liberal Pope's "door open" comment is step one.

 

Many people have mentioned this but some say the statistics do not back it up. First, other churches are seeing their pastors commit sexual predator crimes also. 1/2% of men commit pedofile crimes, married or not. That is approx. the same percentage of priests and I assume other churches pastors. The big difference is the structural make up of those churches. Many Protestant churches are congregational in nature. If that pastor were to abuse a child, at most you could only sue that individual church but possibly only be able to sue the pastor and the church would not be liable. The Catholic Church is set up where priests are much more "infused" to the diocese. So in that case, the actions of one priest puts the entire diocese liable, a much larger pool of funds to go after, therefore much, much more publicity and many more attorney going after those funds where suing just one pastor wouldn't bring all that much publicity.